Facebook testing Android SMS integration, denies “spying” allegations

Facebook is testing new features for Android that integrate with the SMS …

Facebook is testing new mobile features for Android that integrate with the SMS functionality in smartphones, taking advantage of updated permissions allowing Facebook access to users' text messages.

Facebook acknowledged the tests while responding to a Sunday Times article claiming that Facebook and other mobile apps are reading users' text messages. The allegation itself isn't all that groundbreaking—Facebook's app for Android clearly lists the permissions users implicitly grant by installing the app, including the ability to edit and read text messages.

That permission was added with version 1.7 of the application, released in September 2011. Facebook is starting to take advantage of this permission in a limited test, according to a post yesterday written by Iain Mackenzie, communications manager for Facebook in the UK.

"Facebook is currently running a limited test of mobile features which integrate with SMS functionality," he wrote, in a statement that was also provided to the Sunday Times before its article ran. "SMS read/write is not currently implemented for most users of the mobile app. As part of this test, we declared the presence of that functionality within our app store permissions starting with the 1.7 version of our application. If Facebook ultimately launches any feature that makes use of these permissions, we will ensure that this is accompanied by appropriate guidance/educational materials."

Mackenzie claimed the article was "a ludicrous attempt to cook-up a story about companies spying on users."

We've asked Facebook what type of SMS integration functionality it is testing, and whether it plans to roll it out beyond Android. That may be difficult, however, as Android tends to be less restrictive regarding apps' integration with core functionality than competing platforms. With the iPhone, security researcher Charlie Miller tells Ars, "Third party apps would not have direct access to the SMS database in iOS due to the sandbox restrictions that are in place for these kinds of apps."

Windows Phone has similarly strict sandboxing, preventing apps from reading text messages. While it's often not clear to users what kinds of information mobile apps are capable of accessing, help is on the way: Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM and others recently promised to require each app that collects personal information to publish a privacy policy.